Gov. Cuomo points finger at New York Republicans for alt-right violence at Manhattan club

By Esha Ray

|new york daily news|

Oct 14, 2018 | 11:30 AM

Three activists protesting the alt-right Proud Boys were arrested Friday night after several fights broke out near the Metropolitan Republican Club. (Sam Costanza for New York Daily News)

Gov. Cuomo blamed New York Republicans for violent clashes between members of the bigoted Proud Boys group and leftist protesters, saying the party “knew what was going to happen” when it invited the Proud Boys’ founder to its Upper East Side headquarters.

“It was either one of the dumbest acts or one of the most malicious and incendiary political acts I’ve ever seen,” the governor said Sunday in a conference call to reporters.

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“You knew who the Proud Boys were. What did they think they were doing if not furthering the President’s political tactic of polarization?”

“It has been nearly four days since police were called to The Metropolitan Republican Club on East 83rd St. after it was viciously vandalized in the dead of night by left-wing radicals,” Cox complained.

Cox urged an investigation of the vandalism, called the street fighting investigated by police was “a scuffle,” and said of Cuomo that “a real leader would call for calm.”

Three protesters were arrested Friday night after several fistfights broke out near the club.

Caleb Perkins, 35, Finbarr Slonim, 20, and Kai Russo, 20, were all charged with assault and harassment after they allegedly beat up a 30-year-old New Jersey man leaving the rally and took his backpack. Perkins was also charged with resisting arrest when he refused to put his arms behind his back to be handcuffed, court papers said.

All three were released without bail Saturday.

The NYPD on Sunday released photos of three more men wanted for questioning, including two who were spotted kicking a victim lying on the sidewalk and one man who punched another victim.

The vandalism to the Republicans’ headquarters included spray-painted anarchy symbols a warning note “to put the Republican Party on notice.”

Cuomo said Cox’s denunciation of the vandalism as an “act of political violence” was hypocritical.

“They invite the Proud Boys to the heart of Manhattan. Then they stand up and complained when the club was vandalized,” the governor said. “Why? Because they’re making the point that the Democrats are an angry mob, which is just what the President is saying.

"I think the Republicans are desperate all across the country.”

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Cuomo also asked New York State Police Hate Crimes Unit and the FBI to help investigate Saturday’s violence.